Systems engineering for distributed live, virtual, and constructive (LVC) simulation

Designing a distributed simulation environment across multiple domains that typically have disparate middleware transport protocols, data exchange formats and applications increases the difficulty of capturing and linking system design decisions to the resultant implementation. Systems engineering efforts for distributed simulation environments are typically based on the middleware transport used, the applications available and the constraints placed on the technical team including network, computer and personnel limitations. To facilitate community re-use, systems engineering should focus on integrated operational function decomposition. This links data elements produced within the simulation to the functional capabilities required by the user. The system design should be captured at a functional level and subsequently linked to the technical design. Doing this within a data-driven systems engineering infrastructure allows generative programming techniques to assist accurate, flexible and rapid architecture development. This paper describes the MATREX program systems engineering process, infrastructure and path forward.